Exploring the Benefits and Cost Analysis of Boat Share Price

I’ll start by asking a question. Which Ear pods do you use while traveling? Chances are that you might name boAt, a popular wearables brand. My next question would be do you know who its Founder is? Again a question that most of you would have answers to, especially if you have seen the popular TV show, Shark Tank. It’s Aman Gupta.

Now I am sure most of you would have read about boAt being a popular Indian consumer electronics brand known for its audio products, such as earphones, headphones, speakers, and related accessories. Although a few of you might not know boAt’s unlisted share price yet? I would like to inform you that boAt share price stands at Rs. 969. boAt Pre-IPO shares are available exclusively on Planify. Since boAt is unlisted as of now, the next logical question on every investor’s mind would be when could we see boAt IPO getting launched? 

We’ll answer this question at the end but before that let me provide you with an overview of boAt's history, past, and present industry overview, market share, and future plans to assist you in deciding whether this company is favorable to invest in or not. Let’s begin!

We’ll be dividing the Consumer Electronics Industry into 3 parts: Past which will represent the era before the 1991 Reforms, Present which will represent the era post reforms up till covid & future which will represent the era post covid.

Journey of boAt: boAt had become one of the leading audio accessory brands in India and held a substantial market share in the country's audio products market. boAt started as a bootstrapped startup with a capital of around Rs 30 lakhs that came from the founders. The company had a strong presence in both offline and online retail channels, with a significant portion of its sales coming from e-commerce platforms. According to a report published by ecommercedb, online global net sales accounted for US$178.8 Mn of boAt’s total sales. boAt got ranked 975 globally in terms of online sales in the electronic & media category.

 

To bolster its production further, boAt partnered with Dixon Technologies as part of its "Make in India" initiative. This joint venture aims to produce key components like mechanics, plastic molds, speaker drivers, and batteries within the country. This strategic collaboration highlights boAt's commitment to promoting domestic manufacturing.

Now let’s take a close look at the industry overview & track its past, present & future.

Unlisted to Uncharted: Tracing boAt's Journey of Valuation Growth: If we want to talk about the past of the Consumer Electronics Industry, before the 1990s, Consumer electronics products were primarily manufactured by government-owned companies or a few domestic players. The market was characterized by limited choices and high prices. Different types of Consumer Electronics including Videocassette Recorders, Microwaves Ovens etc became household names but they had to be produced under a quota set by the government, thus there were long waiting lists to get your ordered products, sometimes as long as months. Can you imagine a Microwave Oven today having a waiting list of over 3 months? Hard to imagine, right? So what changed?

Riding the Waves of Success: boAt's Upcoming IPO: In the early 1990s, India embraced economic reforms that led to liberalization, deregulation, and opening up of the economy to foreign investments. This paved the way for multinational consumer electronics companies to enter the Indian market, bringing a wider range of products and technologies. As technology advanced, consumer electronics products such as televisions, refrigerators, air conditioners, washing machines, and smartphones became more affordable and accessible to a larger population. This led to increased adoption and penetration of these devices across urban and rural areas. The consumer electronics market in India, especially for audio products, witnessed significant growth over the years.

With the rise of smartphones and increased media consumption, the demand for earphones and headphones surged. boAt capitalized on this trend by offering stylish and feature-packed products at competitive prices, positioning itself as a popular choice in the audio accessories segment.

Indian Wearables Market has grown from approximately 0.2 Bn$ in 2018 to 0.4 Bn$ in 2020 at a CAGR of 39%. Although when compared with other markets including that of West & South East Asia which are more evolved markets with a valuation of 12-15 Bn$ for West & 1-3 Bn$ in South East Asia respectively, we are at a nascent stage. The sales volume penetration in India was~ 2% indicating tremendous headroom for growth.

boAt's Soaring Market Share in Consumer Electronics:

Smartwatches are another segment that is fast rising in popularity & trend & although India still continues to be an evolving market, as more & more enter the Middle-class income bracket, the number is set to boom further. Let’s compare this with the US & understand the concept with the help of a chart:

boAt is the current leader of the wearable segment and reported a 46% market share, capturing nearly half of the market. The company reported a staggering 236% y-o-y growth in Q2 2022. 

boAT has entered into multiple strategic partnerships with global players such as Amplify.ai and Meta to introduce a messaging experience, Qualcomm (one of boAt's investors), Dolby, and Dirac enabling the company to incorporate cutting-edge global technology into its audio products.

To aid the marketing of the fitness trackers & smartwatch, boAt tried to tap into the aspirational value of people & hence hired Cricketers like Hardik Pandya & Jasprit Bumrah as well as filmstars like Kiara Advani & Kartik Aaryan to further propel their sales. Infact, banking on the aspirational value, Noise, a key competitor of boAt hired Rohit Sharma & Tapsee Pannu who played a major role in securing 2nd position in the market.

In the coming time, brands may focus on enhancing the capabilities of these wearables to offer more advanced health monitoring, longer battery life, and better user experiences. As consumer wearables become more sophisticated, there may be a stronger emphasis on integrating health and medical functionalities. This could include advanced heart rate monitoring, sleep tracking, blood pressure monitoring, and even early health issue detection using AI and machine learning algorithms. 

Hearables, which are smart wireless earbuds with advanced features beyond audio playback, have gained popularity. Future plans may include the development of more advanced hearables with features like language translation, voice assistants, and personalized audio experiences.

Stay Afloat for boAt's IPO Release Date!

Now I am sure most of you would be wondering what is boAt IPO launch date. According to boAt founder Aman Gupta, boAt IPO is certainly not going to launch this year although they plan to launch it in 2025-26. Investors can buy boAt Pre-IPO shares at just Rs. 969 on Planify & gain exponential returns.